Chelyabinsk meteoroid size and scale context

The Chelyabinsk meteoroid was the asteroid that exploded over Russia in 2013. Video cameras, infrasound detectors, and U.S. government sensors captured the event, making it the clearest modern case study of how a relatively small asteroid can generate a dangerous urban shock wave. Read its scale context, comparisons, and journey links on the canonical object page.

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Between the smallest and the largest, perspective is everything.

About

Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.

Guides turn parts of that scale into curated essays, while focused views let you explore the same range through specific groups of objects.

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Between the smallest and the largest, perspective is everything.

About

Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.

Guides turn parts of that scale into curated essays, while focused views let you explore the same range through specific groups of objects.

Editorial

Solar System Planets From Electron to Atoms Stars To Scale Birth And Death Of Stars Black Holes To Scale

Views

Planets of the Solar System Stars of the Universe Black holes Subatomic scale

Return to Earth hello@scaleofspace.org

Meteoritic material

Hoba meteoroid

The Hoba meteoroid is represented here by its estimated body before impact, not just the surviving remnant in Namibia. Hoba is the largest intact meteorite known on Earth, and its impact appears to have left no preserved crater, likely because the atmosphere slowed it dramatically before it reached the ground.

Scale fact~2.7 mpre-entry diameter

Object class: Iron meteoroid
Composition: Iron-nickel metal

Meteoritic material

Chelyabinsk meteoroid

Scale fact~18 mpre-entry diameter

Object class: Stony near-Earth meteoroid
Composition: Stony ordinary chondrite

Meteoritic material

Tunguska meteoroid

The Tunguska meteoroid was the object that exploded over Siberia in 1908. It toppled and scorched forests across a vast area yet left no permanent impact mark, making it the classic warning that an airburst can be devastating even when almost nothing reaches the ground intact.

Scale fact~55 mpre-entry diameter

Object class: Stony meteoroid